Premier tosses her notes as Alberta roundtable hears from former foster kids about publication ban

Karen Kleiss, Edmonton Journal02.03.2014

Monique Marinier, 20, took part in a provincial roundtable to debate Alberta’s child death review system and publication ban on Jan. 29, 2014, in Edmonton. I grew up with other children and youth; if one of them had died while I was in care, and I couldn’t speak about it, that would definitely change the way I healed, she said.Greg Southam
/ Edmonton Journal

Samantha, 21, who has previously been in care of the province of Alberta: How do you feel like a person, if ... there’s some publication ban saying that you don’t exist, your story will not be shared, you will be forgotten? It’s traumatizing.Shaughn Butts
/ Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON - Three young women who grew up in foster care told a roundtable Wednesday that a sweeping publication ban has the power to make youth in care feel invisible.

The women’s appearance at the Child Intervention Roundtable offered an unprecedented opportunity to hear how foster children feel about an Alberta law that makes it illegal to publish their names and photographs, even if they die while in care.

The trio spoke hours after Premier Alison Redford tossed aside her prepared speech to reiterate her belief that Albertans and their government have a responsibility as a society to take care of all its children.

The young women rejected the “in care” label and said they want to be treated just like anyone else — but that is where the consensus ended.

“I do empathize with how youth in care might be feeling if they’re hearing about this right now, knowing that if anything happens to them, they might lose their identity,” said Samantha, 21, who was once a high-risk youth, but is now an articulate student of social work raising a young daughter. She did not want her last name published.

“How do you feel like a human being? How do you feel like a person, if ... there’s some publication ban saying that you don’t exist, your story will not be shared, you will be forgotten? It’s traumatizing,” Samantha said.

Faven, 19, said family should have the right to release information, but she wouldn’t want the details of her own life made public. She used a nickname on the panel, not her real name.

“I personally wouldn’t want my information released, and I wouldn’t want people to think, ‘Oh, Faven died, and she was in (foster) care.’ I just don’t like the fact that we have the labelling,” she said.

“A child dies. A child is a child, and I don’t think there should be any restrictions or limitations if the child is in care, or not. I don’t think that I see the whole separation.”

Monique Marinier, 20, also said children and youth living in foster care are the same as other Albertans, and shouldn’t be labelled.

“I grew up with other children and youth; if one of them had died while I was in care, and I couldn’t speak about it, that would definitely change the way I healed,” she said.

“We live with children of all ages ... as well as foster families. They have their own children, who are not in care. They cannot speak about us. I don’t think that it’s fair, that we have that label on us, and we live with people who do not have that label.”

Marinier suggested children and youth be given the opportunity to sign a directive that indicates who will decide whether their story and photo should be shared if they die.

An expert panel and about 80 attendees did not reach any consensus about what, if anything, should be done about the publication ban, which currently prohibits news outlets from publishing the names and photographs of children who die in care. Even the parents of children who die in care are forbidden from publicly identifying them.

Dr. Eric Wasylenko, an ethicist, said the province is trying to balance the need to protect the privacy of vulnerable people with the responsibility to be open and accountable about the work they do, and while that is a laudable goal, it may not be far enough.

“We might also need to balance the privacy of vulnerable people with our need as a society to learn and access community wisdom,” Wasylenko said. “We also may need to balance the components of dignity for these people. Dignity is about privacy, but it’s also about voice, about legacy, about personhood.”

Redford said Alberta’s child welfare system needs to change, transforming into a “care system” that enables parents to give the best care possible to vulnerable children.

“One of the reasons that I wanted to work on issues like this, and run to be leader of my party and premier of this province, is because in this province ... we created a child welfare system as a society years ago, and then we stopped,” Redford said.

“We can’t use the same old models,” she said. “We have to create a care system — not a system, not a child welfare system, not a bureaucratic structure — actually a system of care that ensures that we can enable parents to be good parents. And if we get it right, those circumstances where we may have to be involved can be reduced.”

The roundtable was called after a joint Edmonton Journal-Calgary Herald investigation revealed 145 children died in care since 1999, more than triple the 56 publicly reported by government. After the series, the province revealed the number of ministry-involved children who died over that period was actually 741, more than 13 times the number publicly reported.

Asked why the deaths were kept secret, Redford said: “That was not a decision made by the government.

“It was a matter of understanding the information that could be managed by government, how the privacy commissioner would be involved, and what the rights of individuals were.”

Human Services Minister Manmeet Bhullar said he is “quite confident” the province will introduce new legislation concerning the identification of children known to the ministry in the spring session, set to begin March 3.

“I’ve been very clear about this from Day 1; there are some pieces that my gut says just don’t make sense,” Bhullar said.

“We need (experts) to flesh out some of these issues so that we can get to a better place, so we can get to a place where there is ongoing and continuous accountability and transparency within the system, and most importantly so we can talk freely about issues that are so sensitive and so difficult.”

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